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| “A Biennial Award made to the best British young dancer of the year, all dancers are not to be judged on technique alone but on the ability to use that technique to create and transmit emotion”. (Travis Kemp, 1914-1995) |
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BACKGROUND TO THE AWARD
This award was set up as a result of a trust provided by Travis Kemp in his will, in memory of his late wife and ballet dancer "Molly Lake" who passed away in 1986. The Molly Lake Award is "A Biennial Award made to the best British young dancer of the year, all dancers are not to be judged on technique alone but on the ability to use that technique to create and transmit emotion". (Travis Kemp, 1914-1995)
The first ever Molly Lake Award was held at the Dance House Theatre in Manchester in October 1998, with the second competition at the Old Rep Theatre in Birmingham, in 2000. Dancers between the ages of 14 and 18 took part in a series of classes given by Anita Young, with Stephen Lade at the piano, before a full audience. Dancers were then selected by a panel of judges, to progess to the solo stage.
BIOGRAPHY
Although they were never as famous as some of their contemporaries, Molly Lake's and Travis Kemp's careers as dancers, directors and teachers spanned over 70 years.
Molly began to have serious dancing lessons with Seraphina Astafieva. Amongst the pupils were Anton Dolin and Alicia Markova. She then studied with Enrico Cecchetti of the Diaghilev company and in 1921 went to study dance in Paris with the former Maryinsky ballerina Julie Sedova. One magical day in 1921 the legendary Anna Pavlova arrived to watch a class and at the end offered Molly a contract, who began dancing with the company immediately.
During the next nineteen years she worked with such names as Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina. She gave lessons to Marie Rambert and danced occasionally for her. She also taught at Ninette de Valois' newly created Academy of Choreographic Art.
It was in 1934 that she first met Travis Kemp when Victor Dandre formed a company of former Pavlova dancers in Paris to tour the Far East; then a syndicate called "Vivian Van Damm Production Ltd" was floated and the company travelled all over England performing for audiences who had never seen a ballet before. It was the first English ballet company of any size to undertake lengthy provincial tours. Finally Molly and Travis decided to form their own company and managed to get together a small group of 12 dancers - "Ballet Intime" or sometimes known as "New English Ballet".
In 1941 Molly's new venture was the Ballet Guild. For Molly it was a continual struggle to put on performances, finding and keeping dancers, running the company, continuing to choreograph and to dance herself. At the end of the war, the Ballet Guild was sent by ENSA to perform in Europe. They went to France, Belgium, Holland and then to Germany.
In 1946 with Molly directing, the Embassy Ballet was formed and was subsequently renamed the Continental Ballet. The company consisted of 28 dancers led by Molly & Travis. They were very popular and the reviews and many letters from admiring members of the audience proved it. For Molly and Travis educational work was part of their normal activities. From 1947 onwards they organised and administered it, they gave lectures and talks during the day several times a week and then danced the lead roles in their company's performances in the evenings.
In 1954, Travis was asked by Dame Ninette de Valois to go to Turkey, and when they arrived in Turkey, they were surprised to find a school of only about 15 small children, none of whom had been there for more than 3 or 4 years. Molly and Travis decided on a new method of recruitment - they decided that their policy must be performances, as soon and as often as possible throughout Turkey. At the end of the first year they had 12 applicants and at the end of the second year they had approximately 150 and could start to pick and choose. By December 1958 the school was developing rapidly. Molly and Travis left Turkey after 20 years and returned to London to start yet another new life. By the time they left, they had started and built up three state ballet schools each with over 100 pupils in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir and 2 state ballet companies each of appx. 70 dancers in Ankara and Istanbul, as well as nurturing growing audiences for the repertoire which they had so carefully developed.
The dance world in London to which Molly and Travis returned in 1974 was very different to the one they had left 20 years earlier and they both started work at the same time, at what was then called the London School of Contemporary Dance.
Molly and Travis then went on to start the London School of Classical Dance and three years later, they opened their own school in St. Johns Wood, calling it the Lake School of Dance. Eventually though, Molly began to teach less and less because her health was deteriorating. Tuberculosis was diagnosed and at this stage there was little that could be done, so reluctantly Travis closed the school.
Molly passed away in 1986, but Travis remained active in many fields of dance until his own death in 1995.
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